VeStranded Productions
independent production,writing,art,and so much more...
Times Call Day and Night
Friday February 12-2010
Frederick Revolving Art Show
Four artists- Heather Rogers, Tina McClure, Robert Mitchell and Frederick Nusbaum Jr.- have work in current exhibit, wich can be viewed at the Bella Rosa Golf Course club house.
Exhibit through March 8 / Bella Rosa Golf Course, 5830 Wled County Road, Fredrick / Free/ 303-678-2940
Tina McClure's work can be see at her My Space: http://www.myspace.com/tmpottery
Times Call
Local News Paper
Publish Date: 1/29/2010
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FREDERICK — At Bella Rosa golf course, visitors are accustomed to practicing the art of the swing. Now they’re getting in the swing of art. The Frederick Arts Commission last year began presenting a revolving art show and sale at the Bella Rosa clubhouse. The dining room has been equipped with a hanging mechanism, and members of the public are invited to view the fine art that now adorns its walls. The current show, which runs through Feb. 8, features work by David Daignault, Lynn Daignault and Connie Griffith, who is also a member of the arts commission. Griffith said that since the debut Bella Rosa exhibit, word of mouth has resulted in significant artist interest. “It’s kind of snowballed,” Griffith said. Monthly exhibits are planned through next year. Bella Rosa charges artists a 15 percent commission on sales — much lower than most galleries — which in turn benefits art buyers. “Artists, we found, are lowering their prices,” Griffith said. David Daignault, a retired Army officer, is a photographer who, based on his work at Bella Rosa, favors natural subjects and dramatic vistas. He apparently travels a lot — his images include Southwestern subjects, mountain ranges and a Costa Rican sunset. Lynn Daignault, his wife, presents mixed-media work that is an exploration of texture. She uses beads, rough cloth, pebbles and other material to create patterns and shapes. Though Griffith calls herself a “dabbler,” she displays a natural feel for composition. A painting by her called “Klimt for Megan” is one of show’s highlights. The next Bella Rosa exhibit is scheduled to run Feb. 8 to March 8 and will include photographs by Heather Rogers, ceramics by Tina McClure and mixed-media work by Robert Mitchell. The Frederick Arts Commission was established in 2000. It advises the town’s board of trustees on the local Art in Public Places program and it organizes the town’s annual art show in October, which also occurs at Bella Rosa. Quentin Young can be reached at 303-684-5319 or qyoung@times-call.com.
In Times Call Day and Night
Art show, sale at Bella Rosa
FREDERICK — The Frederick Arts Commission presents a “Holiday Art Show and Sale” as part of its revolving art shows at Bella Rosa Golf Club House, 5830 Weld County Road 20.
The holiday show runs through Jan. 11 and features 35 regional artists. The show is open during regular club house hours seven days a week.
Call 303-678-2940 or visit www.bellarosagolf.com.
AFT Reporter
VeStrand, the head custodian at Sunset Middle School in Longmont, Colo., and a member of the AFT-affiliated Colorado Classified School Employees Association, has won an award for her first play, heard it read on stage during a playwrights’ festival in Denver, and is now working on a screenplay to turn it into an independent film.
“Channel 15” is based on VeStrand’s experiences with homelessness, including a period in which she lived in a car and shelters in Denver with her young son. She writes about stealing ketchup and sugar packets for food, stuffing newspapers inside clothes to stay warm and riding a city bus for long periods when the shelter was full. The title comes from the homeless’s nickname for the bus, which VeStrand compares to a TV drama or comedy with all the interesting characters getting on and off.
Clearly there’s plenty of material for an engaging drama, but it took some prodding from a creative writing teacher for VeStrand to put it on paper. While she was working toward an associate’s degree, she needed an English class, and the only one available was creative writing. One assignment required the students to write a one-act play. “I’m dyslexic, and I didn’t like writing,” she admits. “So that was the last thing I wanted to do.” She told the instructor she had nothing to write about, but once they sat down and talked about VeStrand’s experiences, it was obvious she had a powerful story to tell.
“Channel 15”—the eventual result of that assignment—won an award and was selected to be read at the Play Showcase Festival in Denver earlier this year. Director Jennifer Vernon told the Daily Times-Call newspaper that the play is “an honest piece based on experiences in her life. I think that makes it a little more special than other shows.”
VeStrand has now become a writing fanatic. “I love writing, and I write all the time.” In addition to turning “Channel 15” into a screenplay, which she hopes to produce along with a filmmaker friend, she is entering it into another drama contest as well as working on new pieces. In general, VeStrand says, she uses events from her own life as the basis but the overall work is still fiction.
VeStrand took the custodian position in Longmont after she saw an advertisement for jobs in the district, but she enjoys the job and finds that it works well with her other activities, which not only include writing but also college classes, being the mother of two boys and preparing to get married. “Life is awesome now,” she says.
“I would like to be a writer when I grow up,” she says with a laugh. She knows that’s not an easy living, so Sunset Middle School will still have her services for now.
Looking back on her experiences on the streets, VeStrand talks about a couple of the characters in her play. One child says he wants to help everybody; an older man tells the boy that no matter how hard he tries, he can’t help everyone, but if he can help just one person, it’s all worthwhile.
For people who have never been homeless, VeStrand says, “Lots of people are in that situation because of circumstances” and not because of laziness or some character flaw. Just look at how far VeStrand has come.
Westword
Play Ball!
The playwright's the thing at the Play Showcase Festival.
By Susan Froyd
Published on February 23, 2006
It's not easy being a local playwright. David McClinton and Karl Kopp (the well-known minister of Denver's First Divine Science Church, who died in October), both veterans of the 2004 Playwrights Showcase of the Western Region, reached this dire conclusion when they noticed that last year's showcase replay featured only one measly Colorado scribe. They decided to organize their own event, and this is it: Brooks Center Arts hosts the Play Showcase Festival at First Divine. The event features staged readings of seventeen works by fourteen playwrights from Colorado and neighboring states, beginning tonight with a reception at 6 p.m. and continuing in blocks through Sunday afternoon. And although Kopp isn't here to reap the rewards of his efforts, his stamp is all over the thing, right down to the distribution of two Kopp Memorial Awards for best short and full-length plays.
Admission is $5 per session; for times and information, call 303-322-7738 or go to www.dvscdnvr.org/events.htm.
Fri., Feb. 24, 6 p.m.; Sat., Feb. 25, 9 a.m.-noon, 1-5 & 6-10 p.m.; Sun., Feb. 26, 12-6 p.m.
Heather Vestrand (Rogers) won the Kopp Memorial Awards for her one act play "Channel 15".
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